Bruins head coach Claude Julien will be without one of his best pests tonight against Anaheim at TD Garden.

Winger Brad Marchand, who missed all of the third period Saturday night in the win over Washington, will remain out tonight and has been classified by the coach as day-to-day. The nature of the injury has not been disclosed, but Julien said that Marchand, who did not take the morning skate today, still feels a little stiff after a hit he took against the Capitals.

According to the official play-by-play sheet, the only hit Marchand took was from Caps rookie Marcus Johansson at the 15:41 mark of the first period. Marchand seemed to have taken a regular shift after that until departing the lineup late in the second stanza.

In Marchand’s place, you can expect Daniel Paille to skate on the Merlot Line with Shawn Thornton and Gregory Campbell. This means the Bruins’ penalty kill shouldn’t suffer a drop-off without Marchand, but it might be less likely Boston’s energy trio will cash in even if it generates its normal amount of offensive chances. Paille is goal-less in 11 games this season and hasn’t scored a goal since April 10 of last season.

Kudos to B’s management for re-signing Paille this pas off-season for just such occasions. still I don’t think that he’ll be around by the end of the year. I can see him Ryder, Thomas in a package somewhere. Ooops, Thread Piracy!

Yeah, I think this is a bigger loss than people outside of Boston (and I’m sure a few there) realize. I think Paille is capable of giving us a couple of solid efforts in his absence. Let’s hope so at least. He has comparable speed and is a good team-first guy. Don’t know if he has the reckless abandon Marchand shows though!

[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Matt Kalman and Bruins Hockey Now. Bruins Hockey Now said: That's what happens when you get hit by a truck. RT@TheBruinsBlog New blog: Marchand is day-to-day http://bit.ly/dYhzDa #bruins #nhlducks […]